Protests intensify in Delhi over voter roll revision — CNBC
Protests demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar have intensified in New Delhi following allegations of violations during a large-scale revision of voter rolls. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Bloomberg New Economy event that India is the “mother of democracy” and that a wide range of issues and different views are openly discussed in the country.
As CNBC reports, thousands of people joined Indian opposition leaders on Monday in a march to the Supreme Court in Delhi. Participants planned to submit a petition against changes to voter rolls being carried out by the Election Commission.
Detention of protest participants
Law enforcement officers detained participants in the pseudo-political Cockroach Janta Party movement, or CJP, who were protesting without permission. The movement’s leaders were also detained last weekend. CJP had sought permission from Delhi police for new rallies at the Jantar Mantar venue, but authorities banned the use of the site for protests.
According to CNBC, security forces in the capital detained young people, several politicians from opposition parties, YouTubers, lawyers and journalists over the weekend. Delhi police, which is subordinate to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
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Dispute over voter rolls
Several local media outlets reported that the names of 130 million people were removed from voter rolls after a special intensive revision began. The procedure was launched last year to update voter registers across the country.
On September 26, the Election Commission launched a separate campaign to register people who were not included in the lists. It downplayed discrepancies highlighted by an Indian Express investigation and said it intended to prevent the exclusion of any voter eligible to vote.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party defended the commission’s actions. It explained the removal of records by saying that 28 million people had died, 68 million had changed their place of residence, 10 million had duplicate records, and another 30 million were absent or could not be found. The UN Human Rights Office expressed concern over the mass detentions and called on Indian authorities to fully respect the right to peaceful assembly. India’s Ministry of External Affairs called the comments unjustified interference in the country’s internal affairs.
